Rescue
by Tabi
Summary: Sakaki x Kaorin. Even in the middle of class, Kaorin can't quite sway her thoughts from the wonderful Sakaki-san.


~Rescue~

Raven-black hair… if I had the chance, I would run my fingers through it. Feel it's soft silkiness, hold it to me, relish the feeling of being able to touch it like I dream… serious eyes that gaze at everything through a mask I can't hope to penetrate… what are you thinking? Who do you think about? I want to know… I want to _know_…!

I want to be what you want. To be what you want I have to _know_ what you want… I can't know what you want, so I just have to guess… give me a clue, please…!

Maybe that serious face would break into a smile, a beautiful smile, an angel's smile… can I see those lips of yours curl, just slightly? Perhaps at me…?

I like to see you serious, too. It makes my heart pound, but… almost everything you _do_ makes my heart pound.

Hold me, please! I want to know what it's like to be held by you. I'm sure your arms would be warm, wouldn't they…? People seem to think you're cold, but… I know you're not. I'm sure if you wanted to be warm, let people know your warmth, you _would_… you just choose not to. I don't know why, but I'll respect your decision.

I want to be able to just go up to you and hug you, or something. And you'd look at me and smile, and I'd look at you and blush, and your arms would be so _tight_ around me, and mine the same around you, and you wouldn't _mind_… maybe there wouldn't be anybody else there, maybe it'd just be you and me. I'd like that. Wouldn't you like that?

Are you happy? I like to be happy. It makes me happy to be with you. Or to watch you, to hear about you, the things you do… I'm the person who likes you the most, notice me! Notice that I like you! Surely you can tell, can't you…? Surely… surely you notice the way I'm always watching you…! It's always me who's watching you! Every little thing you do can't be so important to anybody else, can it? Nobody else is watching you so constantly and observing the little things that make you, _you_…

Yes, so, if it was you and me. On our own. Just us. I want to think about that kind of thing, but it's embarrassing… aah, what might you look like with no clothes on? Oh, that's embarrassing, maybe I'm blushing just thinking about it, but it's a nice kind of embarrassment that makes my stomach feel all flittery… so… um… maybe I shouldn't be thinking this, but… you naked, it's… a nice thought. You'd be all beautiful like that, not that you're not always beautiful, but you'd be even _more_ beautiful, and… um… can I be poetic? I'm not good at poetry and stuff. Well, you have such pure skin, your hair is set off nicely by it… so… if you were naked, your whole body would be like that, wouldn't it? The contrasts, and things. Your hair all sweeping around you and stuff.

Um, that's a bit difficult. You standing there naked in my mind doing nothing at all is a bit weird, so let's put you somewhere. Let's see. My bed! Ahaha, that's so daring. It's my mind though, and I don't mind. You don't know, anyway. Well, my bed is a normal bed, there's nothing special about _that_. However, if it had _you_ in it… and if it had _me_ in it too…! Oooh…!

Oh, and if I was naked too… aah, I'm not that attractive when I'm naked, really I'm not. Nothing special to look at, but, um, maybe you'd look at me with kind eyes and not mind how plain I am… I mean, people say I'm not bad looking, my family and everyone, but I can't really believe them, especially not when compared to _you_. I mean… look at you…!

_Do_ you look at yourself? Something to think about.

If you hugged me while you were naked…! Your skin would feel all smooth against mine, and I'd feel your hair brushing against me, and you'd hold me under you… um, what if you _touched_ me? I, uh, I touch myself, sometimes. I, I mean, not often, it… ah… this is only in my head, isn't it? Alright, nobody else is going to hear me. It's a bit more than sometimes. It's quite often. Not really every night, but… I don't know, maybe _most_ nights… maybe I should feel bad about that, but… when I always think of you, it _can't_ feel bad!

Maybe you do the same kind of thing? Probably not about me, but… somebody like you, I don't know if I can imagine it… well, I _can_ imagine it, and it makes me blush so hard. Thinking of you like that, it's usually something I do when I'm alone in bed, but at the moment, I'd like to think of you like that, just while my mind is wandering in that direction… your hands, touching places I can only dream about… is it bad to want to see those places one day? I want to show you mine! I want to see yours! Isn't that a bit… _wrong_…? I mean, we're both, y'know, the same gender and all… but even with that, I don't think it matters. I still like you a lot despite that, you know? I hope you can like me a lot just the same.

Something tells me I shouldn't be thinking about this at the moment. I can't think why though, I mean… if I'm thinking about you, it can't be wrong, can it? It's so nice to think of you. Think of you, dream of you, watch you… it makes me feel so dizzy just to contemplate being with you each day, even if you might not notice me. Is this love? Maybe it is. It makes me feel all fuzzy…! Ah, surely I'm too young to have such a love? Am I allowed to be in love with you?

I'm blushing, definitely. Even if I'm not allowed to be in love with you I think I would be anyway. I'll think of you and everything else all the time no matter what I'm _told_ to do, I'll be blissfully happy with what I _want_ to do, no matter what people say. I can't help it if I like you more than anybody else.

Now… what was the reason for me being uneasy… I'm sure there was a reason… I'm sure there was something else real important I had to think about to stop myself from drifting off like this… what might it have been…

****

There was a loud '_WHACK_' in the classroom as Yukari-sensei brought down her rolled-up paper onto the front of Kaorin's desk; on seeing the sudden movement and hearing the sudden noise, Kaorin snapped out of whatever it had been she'd been daydreaming about, and looked up in panic.

"For the _third_ time, would you please answer the question…? Honestly, there must be something in the air today, nobody seems to be paying attention…"

A few seats away, Osaka was happily tracing the marks on her desk with her fingernail, paying as little attention as Kaorin had been. Yukari-sensei cast a slight glare in her direction, but… that couldn't be helped, she was _always_ like that. She turned back to Kaorin.

"… so, anyway. The answer, please…?"

The answer?! Kaorin hadn't even been aware of the question…! Sudden panic gripped her stomach where her warm and fuzzy feelings of Sakaki-san had been just moments before. If she admitted to having not even heard the question any of the three times it'd apparently been said, surely she'd be detained, or punished, or _something_… so many eyes looking in her direction… waiting on her answer… were they really waiting for the answer, or were they really just watching her embarrassment? She tried to buy time for herself as she floundered, "Um… ah… er… that… that is… the _answer_…"

"The raven is supposed to represent death, isn't it…?"

Yukari-sensei looked up at another voice, a voice telling the answer. She'd wanted one of the class to tell her the answer, she'd also wanted to berate Kaorin for so obviously not paying attention… what kind of things had she been thinking about to be sitting there with such a lovestruck smile on her face?! Class was _not_ the place for that! Still, reward where it was due, perhaps it could slide for the moment. She'd have a word with Kaorin after class instead.

"Oh? Oh, indeed, indeed. The raven represents death, which is why the bird is so prevalent in this chapter… as we we'll see later on next chapter, the raven creates a sense of foreboding. Oh, class is almost over. We'll get to see who dies tomorrow. You can pack away now…"

The class visibly relaxed as the command was given, and anybody near Chiyo-chan might have heard her shivering against her seat, "D-… dies…? Somebody… there's… there's death? Somebody _dies_…?"

Kaorin heaved a sigh of relief. Saved by the bell! Saved by somebody else. Saved by… wait a moment… the person who'd spoken the answer, that had been… Sakaki-san, hadn't it…?

What luck! What fate! What destiny! Kaorin had been daydreaming about the very person who'd rescue her from the vile claws of her teacher! What a saviour!

… Kaorin's daydream filtered back to her, now she wasn't under such pressure. She blushed deeply; how had she ended up daydreaming so vividly in class? So vividly to even ignore Yukari-sensei _totally_…? Still, imagining Sakaki-san naked… in Kaorin's bed… them both together… naked… touching… oh, oh, oh…

Kaorin had originally wanted to thank Sakaki for saving her, even if it _hadn't_ been Sakaki's intention to do so. Maybe she'd known the answer easily, maybe she'd been bored, but Kaorin wanted Sakaki to know how much it meant to her…!

However, after daydreaming so vividly, Kaorin couldn't _quite_ bring herself to face the person of her dreams, not quite so soon after that. Perhaps later on, after break, after lunch, after _something_… after some fresh air, ideally. Kaorin bolted from the classroom as soon as they were let outside, wanting to find somewhere just a little more quiet. Yes, she'd thank Sakaki-san later. She wouldn't forget, after all… and maybe Sakaki-san would be touched for Kaorin to remember such a thing, especially if she really _hadn't_ meant it so seriously…

For now, it was nice enough to focus on the thought that Sakaki-san had leapt heroically to Kaorin's rescue… it hadn't been anybody else, it had been _her_. That was enough.

And so, Kaorin was preoccupied for most of the rest of the day.


End file.
